Harry Maguire picks Manchester United’s next captain

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire reveals who could be his ideal heir to the captain armband at Old Trafford after his retirement.

From Sir Bobby Charlton to Eric Cantona and Wayne Rooney to Antonio Valencia, Manchester United’s dressing room has always been surrounded by a plethora of hero-like figure. Players who had the courage to be vocal about their fellow teammates’ mistakes both on and off the pitch.

When we recall the memories of Fergie holding numerous trophies on different stages, we sometimes ignore those who were right behind him, leading and orchestrating the team on the pitch.

We all know Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest manager Premier League have ever had. However, we should not run away from the fact that those captains, who led the trophy-winning sides during those days, are hard to find in the current Manchester United squad.

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When the club had the likes of Eric Cantona, Steve Bruce, Roy Keane, and Gary Neville as their captains, they tasted the sweet fruit of it. Now, without leaders of similar ilk, they are struggling to be consistent on the field.

Ever since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson from “The Theatre of Dreams”, the devoted captain armband of Manchester United has not seen a ‘perfect’ claimant.

The scenario went drastically wrong when Antonio Valencia, one of the club’s most loyal servants and a fantastic captain, left United for his homeland in 2019 after the club had decided that they would not offer Valencia a contract renewal.

Consequently, the club were embroiled in a conundrum. Somewhat hastily, the management decided to hand Ashley Young the armband.

But, when Ashley Young reportedly refused to play for the Red Devils and secured his move to Inter Milan last January, United found no choice but to make the world’s most expensive centre-back Harry Maguire their next captain.

Since Manchester United handed Harry Maguire the prestigious armband, the club has seen impressive progress on the pitch. Maguire has looked like a leader worthy of the armband.

With Maguire as captain, United have scored more and conceded fewer goals. Though, it has been the January transfer of Portuguese sensation Bruno Fernandes that has massively helped to transform an injury-ravaged squad into a formidable United side.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s men were on an 11-match unbeaten streak before the current crisis came to put a brake on the footballing action.

Speaking on the Official Manchester United Podcast, Maguire revealed that Marcus Rashford could be United’s next captain. The English defender said,

"“I think as a club, you should have a captain and rely on him but you need to spread the onus of the leadership in the group.”“Marcus is there and he battles through every game, obviously he’s missing through a bad injury at the moment but he’s battling hard to get back and he’s very rarely missing games.“He’s always wanting to make himself available. I think you can see around the place and on and off the field as well, he’s excellent with his charity work, which is great to see.“On the pitch, like I said, he’s amazed me. He’s the most talented player I’ve ever played with and I’m sure he’s going to be a wonderful player for this club.”"

With football set to return in early June, do you think Manchester United will make it to top 4 by the end of the 2019-20 season?